Splendid's Tough Chellenge
by Minuit-the-Cat
Summary: When Toothy is kidnapped and taken out of the Happy Tree Forest Boundaries, it's up to Splendid to save him from a permanent death. Warning: Contains slash! Don't like, don't read. R&R please. Minor SplendidxToothy, FlakyxFlippy, CuddlesxGiggles.
1. Only the Beginning

A/N: I dunno why, but right now I'm obsessed with Toothy.... and Splendid. What? No, Mime is STILL my favorite, I'm just obsessed with Toothy and Splendid. ... If you haven't figured out yet, I mean them as a couple lol. So yea, I wrote this story since I don't see many stories about them as a couple, so if you don't like slash/yaoi stories, stop reading now. It's very minor romance, and it'll be multi-chapter... sadly enough, I'm gonna start it out as a one-sided crush... OBVIOUSLY on Toothy's part since Splendid doesn't notice him really at all. =)

Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Tree Friends. I only own the plotline. :3 And the antagonists of the story, but they're all random characters that I shall only call "Bro", "Sis", "Cuz", and "Auntie". ^^ Not official characters.

NOTE: Minuit "Mint" the cat does NOT show up in this story. I'm gonna start discluding her a little more often. I feel like she shows up too much, so I'm not gonna put her in this story. ^^

Romance is minor. It's more adventure than romance =) Couplings are minor ToothyxSplendid(obviously), FlippyxFlaky, and CuddlesxGiggles. ^^

Okay, let's start the story now!

--

The purple beaver sat at his table by the window in his kitchen, staring at the TV, where they were showing the news. He sighed boredly, and then looked out his window. He was munching on cookie since he had nothing better to do. He saw smoke in the distance and saw his favorite superhero, Splendid, flying to the rescue. He sighed, wondering why when he himself needed help Splendid never came.

Toothy heard knocking at his door and jumped up to answer it. Standing in front of his door was Cuddles, Giggles, Lumpy, Flaky, and-oh dear God-Flippy.

"Heya, Toothy!" Cuddles exclaimed happily. "Wanna come play some soccer with us?"

Toothy glances at the kitchen, then smiled and said, "Sure! Just let me grab my first aid kit."

"No need to, Flaky's got her's," Cuddles said, rolling his eyes, but a smile lit up his face.

"Oh, okay then," Toothy stated with a smile. He closed his door and locked it. Then he and the other five took off for the park.

--Ten Minutes Later--

"So why isn't Petunia here with you all?" Toothy suddenly asked.

"Oh, it was her house that caught fire this morning," Giggles said sadly. Then she perked up and said, "But don't worry, she's in the hospital now. Splendid saved her life!"

"Really? That's good," Toothy said with a smile, but he was frowning on the inside. He was glad Splendid saved her, of course, but when he himself had been in a fire, Splendid didn't show up.

"Anyway!" Cuddles interrupted, "Let's start playing! I choose Giggles and Toothy for my team!"

Flippy sighed and said, "You _had _to leave me with Lumpy, didn't you?"

"I see you're not complaining about Flaky, who nearly killed you by accident last time we played," Cuddles stated in his matter-of-fact voice.

"Yea, but then he flipped, remember?" Toothy pointed out.

"And killed us all but Flaky," Cuddles added, looking suspiciously at Flippy, who had begun blushing and muttered something about having taken back over before Evil could kill her.

_What a lame excuse, _Toothy thought to himself. _It's obvious he has a crush on her..._

They started playing their game, happily kicking the ball back and forth. But then Lumpy got stupid and kicked the ball at Flaky, who had her back turned to him for the fact that something had caught her eye. The ball hit her in the back and deflated immediately, but the feeling of it hitting her back scared her because she thought someone had run into her. She immediately screamed and started trying to get it off before she realized it was just the ball. She sighed in relief.

The others had started laughing until they realized that the sound of the ball deflating-popping, more accurately- had set Flippy off. Flippy jumped at Cuddles and pulled out his bowie knife. Cuddles screamed and tried to run but Flippy easily caught him and slit his throat. All the friends scattered with screams. Flippy went for Lumpy next. He stabbed the bowie knife in the side of Lumpy's head, and Lumpy collapsed immediately.

Toothy quickly hid behind a tree, hoping and praying that Flippy would not find him.

Flaky had tripped over her own two feet and fallen into a hole with spikes at the bottom and was impaled on the spikes.

Giggles had also hidden behind a tree, but she screamed when she saw Flaky fall into the hole-trap and saw blood fly up out of the hole. Flippy was upon her within a second. Toothy muffled his own cream and tried to get away from the now-dead chipmunk-Flippy had stuck a grenade in her head!- but he tripped and fell backwards. Flippy turned to him with an evil grin on his face and started approaching him.

Toothy quickly backed away from the evil bear, but felt his head hit a tree-trunk. He started seeing double for a moment, but then Flippy pounced at him. He let out a shrill scream and covered his face, waiting for the pain and death.

It never came. Toothy opened his eyes and uncovered his face and floating there in front of him was Splendid. Flippy got off the ground and growled quietly.

Flippy pounced at Splendid this time but Splendid merely grabbed the bear by the throat and tossed him towards the pond.

This time, when Flippy stood up, he looked confused and his eyes were back to normal. He looked around and gasped. Then he looked down at his clothes. Then he looked at Splendid. Then Flippy the bear ran off, going to his home to clean off himself and his clothes.

Splendid looked back at Toothy. Before Toothy could say anything, Splendid nodded slightly and then flew away at highspeed.

The tree Toothy had been leaning on was uprooted and blown away-impaling Toothy in the process.

--The Next Day--

Toothy woke up in the hospital. In the bed next to his own was Mime, who was still recovering from a really bad unicycle accident.

Toothy sat up in his bed and looked around. He saw all of the Happy Tree Friends-except Flippy, Cro-Marmot, and Splendid, obviously.

Toothy hopped out of bed and dashed out of the hospital. No one was there to stop him. All the Happy Tree Friends were either dead or in the hospital recovering. None of them could play the part of doctor or nurse.

Toothy went on over to his own home. He unlocked the door and walked in, but immediately stopped. He heard voices speaking from his basement. He slowly went further into the house and listened carefully as the voices spoke.

"I'm telling you, bro, it's a ghost town. There's no one here. It's completely deserted. And there's blood _everywhere._"

"Ah, stop your complainin', sis. It's the perfect place for a hideout. No one would ever find us here. It's too far in the woods."

"But if we found it, won't they find it eventually as well?"

"Shh, cuzes. Someone's upstairs."

"Might just be Auntie."

"No, Auntie went to sleep in the bedroom. She sleeps a long time, you know."

"Well, cuz, go scope it out."

Toothy put his hands over his mouth to muffle a gasp and quickly started for the door, but the other guy was much faster than him. The next thing Toothy knew, he was being held against the wall with hands around his neck. He looked at who it was who had attacked him and saw a blue cheetah with red spots holding him against his own walls.

"What are you doing here?" the cheetah demanded.

"I-it's MY house... what are YOU doing here?" Toothy retorted in a choked voice.

The blue cheetah grinned. "Well, your home is a hideaway for us. But now that you know we're here, we'll have to send you to HQ as our prisoner."

Toothy looked scared. "C-can't you just kill me?" he inquired, knowing if they did he would be perfectly fine.

"Oh no, we _torture_ our prisoners before killing them. We have none of our tools with us now, but at HQ...," he trailed off with a sly grin. "Hey, sis, bro, come look at what we have here!"

Two more cheetahs like the first-only colors reversed- came up the basement stairs. The female cheetah went over to the door and closed with. She locked it and looked over at Toothy.

"A _beaver_? What's a _beaver _doing in a town like this?"

"This is where he lives. This is his house. But he might squeal if we let him go. And we don't like to kill without torture, do we, my friends? We have to send him to HQ, where there are torture chambers and machines."

Toothy gulped as the cheetah let go of his throat and grabbed his arm.

The female cheetah-Sis, as far as anyone calls her- knelt down in front of the beaver-they were about Lumpy's height, much to Toothy's dismay- and asked, "How old are you anyway?"

Toothy gulped again and said, "I-I don't remember. N-none of us i-in this t-t-town remember. I-it's been s-s-so long!"

"So long? You can't be more than fifteen years old," Cuz stated in an aggravated voice.

"I-I'm much older than what you think... and what I l-l-look..." Toothy stuttered fearfully. "W-why c-c-can't you j-j-just k-kill m-me?"

"Too forgiving. For all we know, you heard our plans."

"B-but I d-d-didn't, I s-swear!" Toothy assured quickly.

"We're not taking any chances," Bro stated with authority. He turned to Cuz and Sis. "Tie him up and take him to the jeep in the forest. Make sure _no one _sees or hears you. If he somehow uncovers his mouth and screams like he's likely to do with those big teeth of his, slap him as hard as you can. If he becomes too much of a problem, run over him with the jeep. Just get him the hell _away _from here and to HQ."

Sis and Cuz both nodded their heads. Cuz dragged Toothy down in the basement with Sis trailing behind. Sis grabbed the rope and tied Toothy up while Cuz kept him from struggling. Heck, it wasn't like he would struggle anyway, he was too scared.

Toothy was picked up by Cuz and taken out into the Happy Tree Forest. He felt himself tossed into the back of a jeep. When he heard the engine start up, he bit through the rope covering his mouth and immediately shouted for help, that he was being kidnapped. He felt a large fist hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious.

Little did they know his shout did not go unheard.

--Splendid--

He had been at his house when he heard the shout. It sounded more like a shriek, but he immediately pulled his glasses and tie off and flew at highspeed out the window. He listened carefully but did not hear another shout for help, but then he noticed an engine. Surely the others weren't out of Happy Tree General Hospital yet?

Splendid went towards the forest in the direction he heard the engine. He saw there was a jeep with blood on the window. He stared at it for a few seconds, and then followed it. As soon as they exited the forest, he stopped and sighed. He didn't know which Happy Tree Friend it was, but he would soon find out. He was determined to find out. He sniffed slightly at the air to get the scent of the vehicle so he could follow it later-hoping by that time he wouldn't be too late- and flew to the hospital quickly.

He arrived at the hospital a few moments later. He quickly looked around and quickly put names to each tree friend.

He knew Flippy couldn't be kidnapped so easily. Besides that, Flippy was sitting beside the bed Flaky was at. Cro-marmot was a block of ice, so he couldn't exactly bleed, nor was he easy to kidnap.

Splendid saw the one who was missing was the purple beaver, Toothy. He frowned. Was it Toothy who was kidnapped? _Well,_ he thought to himself, _I'll just have to find out, now won't I? _

With that, he zoomed out of the hospital and went in the direction the jeep had gone.

He just hoped he wouldn't be too late, because if the kid-at least, he _thought _the beaver was a kid- died outside of the forest boundaries, there was no coming back.

--To Be Continued—

So, will Splendid save Toothy in time? Hmm... We'll see. =)

I'll get started on the next chapter immediately, I like the way this is progressing so far. =)


	2. Imprisonment, Scars, and Realization?

A/N: Chapter 2! ^^ You're in for a BIG surprise in this chapter, BTW. I can't tell you, as that would ruin the surprise… just keep reading! =)

Disclaimer: Really, do you ACTUALLY think I own HTF? If you do, you're wrong. ^^ I only own the antagonist and plot. Sorry! ^^ It is FANfiction, after all. :3

--Chapter 2—

Splendid flew through the forest, following his sense of smell, since he could no longer see the jeep. _I really should have just followed it_, he realized then.

He came to the edge of Happy Tree Forest and flew out without hesitation. Unfortunately, as soon as he did, he felt himself fall to the ground.

Splendid sat up, confused. He looked back at the edge of the Happy Tree Forest. _What just happened? _He wondered. _I don't have time for this!_

He quickly got up and jumped in the air but fell right back down. "Okay, what's going on?" he asked himself, aggravated. Then it occurred to him… could he possibly lose his powers outside of the Happy Tree Forest?

Splendid stood up again and instead of attempting to start flying, he began running. He couldn't fly, but he could still run, and he wasn't about to let the beaver-what was his name again?-die.

--With Toothy—

Toothy woke up 50 miles from home in a dark room. He carefully stood up and winced as he felt the pain flare up in his head. He groaned slightly and asked no one in particular, "Where am I?"

"You're in the dungeon chamber of Fighting Felines' Headquarters, and now that you're awake, we can get down to business."

Toothy turned towards the voice and saw the same male cheetah from earlier, Cuz. He was holding a lamp, and next to him was Sis, who had her hands on her hips. On either side of them were two green jaguars, who were holding guns. Toothy gulped and leaned against the bars. He looked around, then back at Sis and Cuz.

"W-well, how far away are we from Happy Tree Town?"

"Is that the name of your pathetic little town?" Sis asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder. Toothy noticed dimly that she was not like other Happy Tree Friends. She looked like she was from a totally different world, even. In fact, all four of them did.

Toothy winced but nodded slightly. Sis sighed and rolled her eyes.

"If you _must _know, we're approximately 50 miles away from that town in the woods."

"50?! B-but that's a really long way away…," Toothy said quietly. Sis scowled at him.

"Duh! We're in the middle of nowhere so no one can find our HQ. Are you _really _that naïve? Ugh, creatures like you disgust me," she stated, crossing her arms and glaring at the ceiling.

"Enough chitchat! Master told us to bring him to Torture Chamber 21," one of the guards said, getting annoyed. He approached the door to the cell, opened it, and approached Toothy with a large smirk on his face. "Come on, li'l beaver, don't be so scared. It'll all be over by midnight."

Toothy immediately tried to get away, but the guard was quick and grabbed him by the back of the throat. Toothy made a small, gagging sound as he was picked up. He began struggling as the guard carried him down the hall, the others trailing behind.

They entered a room with "T-21" painted on it. Toothy immediately stopped struggling and gapes at what he saw.

The room was large and had blood splattered _everywhere. _There was a table that had four straps on it; two at the top and two at the bottom. There were two guards holding black leather whips and nasty grins on their faces. On the far left wall were chains that were obviously for chaining prisoners to the walls to be tortured. Close by that was a pit. What was on the bottom Toothy couldn't see, but he had a feeling he would know soon enough. He gulped and looked around the room at the various torture devices. There were some devices that looked like they could cut right through bones and catch dirt on fire.

Toothy was led towards the wall with the chain. He continued struggling now, not wanting to be tortured to death. He was out of Happy Tree Town, which meant all bets were off. If he died, it was all over.

_And my friends don't even know I'm gone!_

--With Splendid—

Splendid might have lost his flying ability, but he still had at least half of his super-speed. He was still following the scent, which was getting stronger every moment. He skid to a stop as he saw a huge facility, at least ten times bigger than Happy Tree Town. He slowly approached it. He saw the jeep there. How had it gotten there so fast? He'd only gone to the hospital for a few minutes! Of course, he had wasted another few minutes trying to figure out what had happened when he got outside of the Happy Tree Forest, but that was beside the point.

He steadily approached it, trying to keep his guard up, but the wind was against him and he didn't hear the three guards sneak up behind him. They didn't knock him out-no, Splendid was still stronger than _that_- but they did capture him quite easily. They were three times his size, for goodness' sake…

--Toothy—

Toothy had curled up in the corner of his cell, trying to keep himself from whimpering. He had various whip-markings on his back now and quite a few burns on his face and arms. He was bleeding from various scars, and instead of doing anything about them, his captors just tossed, literally _tossed_, him back into his cell.

Toothy leaned his head against the wall, trying to fall asleep. If he were to die in that place, he wanted to die asleep.

Suddenly, he heard the cell door open and heard a small thump, then a scramble. He heard the cell door slam shut and the guards laughing.

Toothy opened his eyes and saw a very familiar blue squirrel.

Splendid had been tossed into the same cell as him!

_But how did SPLENDID get captured?? _He thought to himself in surprise.

Then Splendid turned to him. He frowned at Toothy, but then approached him.

"What happened to you?"

Toothy didn't know what to say. His favorite hero was actually talking to him, but he really had no idea what to say. He didn't even know how to say he was tortured. He just stared at Splendid, and then he asked, "H-how did _you _get c-captured??"

Splendid stared at him for a few moments before saying, "Is that your way of getting out of answering me? How I got captured is none of your concern. I came here to save you and then I get trapped in here. How do you expect to get out of here now?"

Toothy winced slightly. "Erm… Don't you have powers, though? You're… you!"

Splendid sat down beside Toothy and looked at the beaver. "Tell me something I don't know, will ya? I'm quite aware I'm me."

Toothy let out a small, nervous laugh that really had no humor in it at all.

"If you really have to know, my powers diminished the moment I left Happy Tree Forest," Splendid admitted.

"T-then why did you come?"

"Doesn't change the fact I'm a superhero and you're a civilian," Splendid replied. Normally he wouldn't talk to a civilian-they might recognize him when he was in disguise- but he had nothing better to do, so why not? He could humor the kid while trying to figure a way out of there.

--Happy Tree Town—

"Have any of you seen Toothy?" Cuddles asked as he approached his group of friends. "I went to his house and knocked for at least ten minutes, but no one answered. He's not in the hospital, either."

Petunia rolled her eyes and said, "He's probably off stalking Splendid again. Have any of you noticed he has this weird obsession with him?"

"Well, yea, he's Splendid's number one fan," Giggles said nonchalantly.

"No, he's not _just _a fan, if you know what I mean," Petunia said, obviously trying to spell it out for her friend without actually spelling it out. "He's absolutely obsessed with him. Even ask Cuddles! Cuddles said he even has Splendid action figures! Toothy has _dreams _about Splendid. Have you not noticed he has that weird obsession?"

Giggles thought about it for a moment before suddenly gasping. "You don't think Toothy has a crush on him, so you? I mean, he doesn't even actually know him!"

Petunia slapped her forehead. Then she turned to Cuddles and said, "Have you drawn the same conclusion Giggles and I have?"

Cuddles sighed. "I reached that conclusion a long time ago, when I saw him sleeping with a Splendid stuffed animal and heard him talking in his sleep. At my sleepover a few months back."

Giggles looked slightly horrified. "So you think Toothy is gay??"

"I'd say bi, at least…" Cuddles said with a shrug. "I think he might swing both ways… at least. But there's no doubt he has an obsession with Splendid. His 'fandom' goes beyond regular fandom, I think…"

Petunia giggled slightly. "I think it's kinda cute!"

"Are you crazy?" Giggles asked incredulously. "A guy liking another guy? That's sick!"

As she was saying this, Mime happened to be rolling on by on his unicycle and heard what she said. He stopped and looked over at them curiously, but as soon as he stopped, a Mac truck(a big-rig/18 wheeler) ran him down and Mime basically exploded.

"Aww, c'mon, Giggles, it's not so bad," Petunia stated with a frown. She glanced over at the mess of intestines on the road, gagged slightly, and looked back at Giggles, who had started clinging to Cuddles' arm. "They're just like you and I and Cuddles and Flaky and Flippy… well, not like Flippy, but you get the point! They are just as alive as we are!"

Giggles rolled her eyes. "I see absolutely no good coming from two guys dating. I mean, it's sick. They can't even have children."

"We can't either, in this town," Petunia pointed out. "We can't grow up into adults, so we'll be the same way forever… and ever… and ever." She glanced back over at the road and made a 'I'm about to puke' face and said quickly, "I'm gonna go take a shower now!" With that, she quickly ran off.

Giggles hugged Cuddles and smiled slightly. "She'll get over it," she said in a pleasant, happy-go-lucky voice. Cuddles smiled and hugged Giggles back.

--At the HQ Prison—

It had been a few hours since Splendid had been brought into the same cell as Toothy, and Toothy was fast asleep with his head against the wall. Splendid stared at the cell door.

All of a sudden, Sis appeared there and stared at the two of them for a few moments. She stood there for at least three minutes before speaking.

"This isn't right," she said quietly. "You two shouldn't be here. This place is for our enemies… not random civilians of the towns we take root in."

Then she was gone.

--To Be Continued—

A/N: Hmm, that last bit was a little suspicious. I wonder how many people saw it coming…

I'm sorry this chapter wasn't as long as the first one! This was just a kind of plot-building chapter. I hope you liked it anyway!


	3. Confusion

A/N: Yea, I'm updating quickly, but I like how this is progressing so far ^^

Disclaimer: Do I really have to put this in EVERY chapter? Ugh, it's obvious I don't own HTF. I only own the Fighting Felines and the story plotline.

WARNING! Toothy is a little OOC in this chap, but hey, he's hurt and aggravated. Don't worry, after this chapter he'll be back in character ^^

--

Splendid did not go to sleep. He wasn't tired at all. He looked at his fellow Happy Tree Friend and looked at the burn scar on his cheek. He was wondering what these odd creatures did to him.

Splendid turned back towards the cell door. He watched and waited for someone to come. It had been two hours since the female cheetah had shown up and left again, and no one had approached the door since, but Splendid wasn't stupid. Naive, maybe, but not stupid. He knew there were guards, and it wouldn't do them any good to get killed in that place.

So Splendid decided to at least try to sleep. He never did fall asleep, and the night was long. When he at last heard the cell door open, at least four hours later, he opened his eyes and looked up as a guard approached him and Toothy. He glanced at Toothy, wondering if they were going to wake him up. He felt himself being yanked to his feet by someone at least three times his own size. He scowled and tried to punch the person who yanked him up so roughly, but as soon as he did, a handcuff was locked over his wrists.

He blinked in surprise and glanced over at Toothy again. Just as he had thought, they had awoken the younger Tree Friend and had done the same thing to him as they had to Splendid; they handcuffed him.

Splendid sighed as they were led into the hallway outside of the cell. He turned to Toothy and asked, "Where exactly are they taking us?"

Toothy looked at him and Splendid did not miss the fear that was evident in his eyes. "Torture chamber," was all he said before looking down as they were led on.

_So __**that's **__what happened to him? They __**tortured**__ him?_ Splendid looked forward and scowled slightly. He wasn't nearly as weak as Toothy was, but now, outside of Happy Tree Forest and Happy Tree Town, he was weaker than he was before. He really didn't know how being out of the boundaries made him lose his powers, but somehow it did.

"I don't understand, why the same chamber?" he heard one guard ask the other.

"It's to show the blue freak what'll happen to him as soon as the purple freak's turn is over," the other guard replied. "Master ordered it to be that way, since the blue freak obviously came here looking for the purple freak."

Splendid scowled slightly. Who were they to call him a freak?

He glanced at the door marked "T-21" and noted the fact that there was a single bloody handprint on the front of the door.

They were pulled into the room and Splendid was quite surprised with the site he saw. He quickly looked at Toothy, who seemed to not be surprised.

Splendid guessed that this was the torture chamber he'd been brought to the previous day.

Splendid looked around and then tried to get away from the guard. He knew if Toothy survived, he himself could, but it was obvious that Splendid was older than Toothy and he might get it a lot worse than Toothy did and would. Splendid was completely convinced that they had to get out of there as soon as possible. How much of that kind of torture could either of them take?

Splendid watched as they forced Toothy towards the chains.

How much?

Splendid didn't want to find out.

--Happy Tree Town--

None of the Tree Friends had seen Toothy for at least a whole day. They had begun searching. When Giggles fell off a cliff, they were all surprised that Splendid didn't come to the rescue.

It was only then that they realized that Splendid was missing too.

Cuddles knew better than to think that the two of them ran off together. No, he knew both of them better than that. Splendid would never leave the town while there were still people in need there, and Toothy wouldn't leave ever. Toothy quite liked eternal life.

Cuddles and Petunia sat in the park, waiting for Giggles to come back to life in the hospital.

"Do you think something happened to them? Like, what if Toothy was kidnapped and Splendid decided to try and save him but also got captured?" Petunia asked worriedly. Cuddles shook his head, not knowing that Petunia had hit the nail right on the head.

"Who would kidnap Toothy?" He asked. "Toothy is practically just a kid, even if he has been alive for over a hundred years."

"Cuddles, a hundred years ago, no one was here. It was just forest. And I remember coming here only about thirty years ago, and Toothy came here after I did."

Cuddles shrugged. "It was an exaggeration, Petunia."

Petunia sighed worriedly. "I'm just worried, is all. It's not like Toothy to stay away from his house all night."

--FF HQ--

When finally Splendid was pushed back into the cell, he saw Toothy was curled up in a ball in the corner, fast asleep.

Splendid had gotten it at least a little easier than he thought he would, but then again, that might be because of who he was and it didn't affect him as much as it would have.

Toothy, on the other hand, had been in major pain. Splendid had been forced to watch his fellow Tree Friend being tortured and every time he tried to escape the guard to help Toothy, they had yanked him back.

Splendid hated feeling so useless. He went over to the sleeping beaver and sat down beside him again. He was tired and it was only midday-at least, that's what he thought. Surely it couldn't be later than lunchtime.

He watched Toothy sleep, feeling very sorry for him. Splendid didn't know how exactly Toothy had been captured, but he knew just a few more of the torture sessions would end it completely for the Tree Friend.

Splendid leaned back against the wall tiredly. He couldn't wait to get home.... if they got home.

The cell door opened again and Splendid looked up and saw the female cheetah coming in. He immediately reached over and shook Toothy awake, never taking his eyes off the cheetah.

Sis stared at him for a few seconds before saying, "There was no need to wake the kid up."

Toothy rubbed his eyes and frowned. "I'm not a kid. I'm probably older than you."

Splendid elbowed Toothy and gave him a sharp glance that obviously said 'shut up, she doesn't need to know'.

Sis waved her hand in the air, dismissing Toothy's words. "I know all about the stupid curse, but it doesn't change the fact you were still a child when you arrived."

"Actually, I was 18, thank you very much," Toothy stated, crossing his arms angrily.

"Really? You sound so much younger than that. And you look so much younger than that. Besides, I'm just here to deliver a mes-wait, didn't you say you didn't remember your age when we first met?"

"I remembered soon after I woke up," he said with a yawn. "Something about leaving Happy Tree Town..."

Sis rolled her eyes. "Sure, whatever. Anyway, tomorrow you two will be going to Torture Chamber 15. I must warn you that it is five times worse than Chamber 21. You'll be lucky if you survive."

With that, she turned around and left.

Toothy yawned tiredly again and muttered something under his breath. Splendid heard what he said and frowned.

"Why would you say that?"

Toothy flushed in embarrassment. "You heard that?"

"Yea, I did. And I'm sure it's not true, what you just said."

"And how would you know? It's not like you know me at all." Toothy glared to the side a little when he mentioned this fact.

Splendid blinked in confusion. He wondered slightly if the beaver realized that Splendid knew practically everything about everyone in Happy Tree Town, and he knew that Toothy was acting extremely out of character.

"I know you're acting different than usual. You're being bitter and refusing to let anyone be kind to you," he pointed out. "And you're usually a kind lad. Hmm, now did you really think I knew absolutely nothing about you?"

Toothy had been a little surprised that Splendid knew even that much about him. He had always thought that the superhero had always ignored him. He frowned again and asked, "How?"

"I'm a superhero, kiddo. It's my job to know."

"Agh! Will you stop calling me a kid?!" Toothy asked, highly annoyed.

Splendid was a little surprised at Toothy's sudden outburst, but he understood. "Okay, so you don't like being called a kid... but you act like one. Why?"

Toothy flushed in embarrassment again and looked at the ceiling. He didn't want to answer his question.

Splendid seemed to sense the sudden hostility. He wondered what was causing the sudden resentment. He knew it couldn't be the fact that Splendid kept repeatedly calling him a kid, so there had to be another reason, but what?

After a few moments of silence, Splendid decided to ask a different question.

"Since you refuse to answer as to why you still act like a kid when you're not a kid, will you at least answer the question why you came to Happy Tree Town? And at such an age, too."

Toothy looked at the superhero-the fallen superhero, his mind added suddenly- and stayed silent for a few moments. Then he replied with, "To get away from my parents."

"Why would you want to get away from your parents?"

"Because they tried to control everything in my life, that's why," Toothy replied, looking at the ceiling again. "They continuously told me to 'act my age' and 'grow up'. They told me that I had to go to college to become a doctor!" Toothy scowled at the thought of it. "Me? A doctor? Feh, I hate even the sight of blood, how would I make a good doctor?" He turned to Splendid again. "That's why I came to Happy Tree Town. At first it was a place just to get away from my parents, but then it became the place where I didn't have to grow up."

Splendid was a little surprised at this reply. The aggressiveness in Toothy's voice had never been there before, but it was there now.

"So... That's basically an answer to both my questions. You act like a kid because... you didn't want to grow up? But then why are you offended when someone calls you kid?"

Toothy was silent. Truthfully, he didn't know. Maybe he felt resentment towards Splandid right then because he did nothing to stop them from hurting him, like heroes were supposed to. Maybe it was because he was out of Happy Tree Town. It could possibly be about his little 'crush' on the hero, or maybe he was just tired of being considered a kid. Was he ready to grow up? Toothy shook his head and sighed. _No, I'll __**never**__ be ready to grow up. I wanna stay eighteen forever. After all, my parents are long since dead. I'd be thirty-or forty-something if I hadn't gone to Happy Tree Town, and my mother was already ill by the time I 'left for college', as I claimed to be doing..., _he thought sadly to himself.

Splendid watched the younger Tree Friend think. Then he sighed and looked at the ceiling. Was there something about Toothy he was missing? He had a feeling there was, but he just couldn't seem to place it. It seemed oh-so obvious, but at the same time it seemed so well-hidden.

They sat in silence for who-knows-how-long before someone brought them some food. Neither of them felt hungry, though, and neither of them ate. They just sat there, staring into space. Toothy was trying to determine why he was acting so different while Splendid was trying to figure out the obvious thing about Toothy that he had failed to notice.

--Happy Tree Town--

The town had finally given up on finding Toothy. They had checked everywhere. They could find neither Toothy nor Splendid.

Cuddles and Giggles were sitting with Flippy and Flaky in the park. Cuddles and Giggles were sitting back to back, exchanging a few words about where they thought the two could have gone. Flaky and Flippy were sitting beside each other, leaning against a tree.

"So... you think something happened to Toothy that Splendid felt he needed to help him with?" Cuddles asked suddenly.

All of them nodded in agreement.

"What else? We know Toothy wouldn't have just upped and ran. More importantly, we all know Splendid wouldn't have disappeared without a darn good reaosn," Flippy stated.

"Well... Petunia thinks Toothy was kidnapped and that Splendid tried to save him but got captured as well," Cuddles said quietly, then he let out a nervous chuckle. "Silly Petunia, huh?"

The others didn't reply. They were contemplating the possibility.

--HQ--

Splendid had been staring into space, trying to figure out what he'd missed, when he felt a sudden weight on his left shoulder. He quickly glanced in that direction and saw Toothy fast asleep with his head on Splendid's shoulder.

Splendid wondered slightly how long Toothy had been sleeping before finally falling over on Splendid. Well, _practically_ falling over.

Splendid contemplated whether or not he should give comfort to the beaver before deciding he should. After all, Toothy was hurt worse than himself. Splendid carefully hugged Toothy, so as to not wake him up.

It was quite a few hours that Splendid was awoken. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. He looked up at the person who had entered the cell.

It was the female cheetah again, holding a flute this time.

She looked at them oddly and said, "I didn't know you were gay."

Splendid blushed and said, "I'm not...! I was just comforting him... He had fallen asleep... and these cells are kind of cold."

She looked at him with a "uh-huh, yea right" expression, but said nothing about how it looked to her.

"Listen, wake him up. You two need to get out of here," she stated. "I've charmed all the guards into a one-hour slumber with my magical flute. You two need to get out of here now."

Splendid was a little surprised. "You want to help us?"

"It's like I said; this place is for our enemies, not random citizens who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now c'mon." She waited by the door. "I can show you all the way to the exit, but then you're on your own. I can't be caught outside of here without Cuz. Just go east and you'll be home. By foot it'll take at least three days, but you'll have to go carefully. People will be out searching for you by midnight tonight, so be careful... that means it'd take another few days to get there in one piece. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful."

Splendid shook Toothy awake. Toothy woke up and as soon as he did Splendid let go of him. Toothy sat up, not even realizing he had been leaning on Splendid, and yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"C'mon, ki-Toothy," he quickly corrected himself. "We're getting out of here."

Splendid stood up and waited for Toothy to do the same.

"How? Won't the guards try and get us?"

Before Splendid could reply, Sis explained again what she had explained to Splendid.

"In case you don't know which way east is, it's that way from the door I'm taking you to," she said and pointed to the right. "It will take you at least four days to gt home, or even five. A week, at most."

Splendid nodded and they followed her to the door. It took at least ten minutes to get to the door.

"Good luck to you two," Sis said before carefully closing the door.

Splendid and Toothy never saw her again after that, but they had their own problems to worry about.

Splendid grabbed Toothy's wrist-purposefully avoiding his hand- and ran in the direction Sis had told them to go in. He was saddened to see even his speed had mostly left him, but being a squirrel he was still pretty fast.

He pulled Toothy into the forest. It obviously wasn't Happy Tree Forest, but it was a thick forest that provided quite a lot of hiding places.

They continued running for a little bit before they started walking. They were far enough from the FF HQ to begin walking. At least that way neither of them would be too tired to begin running if they were spotted.

--To Be Continued--

Ahh, so Sis wasn't as bad as they thought... hmm, I wonder what's gonna happen all in that week, hmm? Splendid is already starting to get a little embarrassed around our adorable purple beaver

And Toothy is already back to normal again. ^^ And yea, I'm wacked up. I like saying that the tree friends are teenagers/young adults(except Pop, Cub, and Splendid. Pop and Splendid are obviously adults based on their voices-and the fact Pop has a kid- while Cub is a baby. I honestly don't know wtf Lumpy is)

Heehee, stay tuned to see what happens next on this adventure. Me thinks someone is going to crack under pressure ^^


	4. In the Grasp of Felines!

A/N: Well, they're hiding in the forest now and Splendid has none of his powers! Oh no! What're they going to do?!

*Ahem* That is why I am writing this chapter now so people don't die of suspense. lol

Disclaimer: I'm already sick of this disclaimer stuff! Obviously I don't own HTF or its characters. I only own the Fighting Felines and plot.

**----**

Splendid and Toothy walked through the fprest for at least two hours before hearing an engine. Splendid immediately grabbed Toothy's arm and pulled him into a bush right next to where they were standing.

"Wha-"

"Shh, be quiet," Splendid hissed through his teeth, putting his hand over Toothy's mouth. Then he signaled for Toothy to stay low and lay down on the ground to peer out from under the bush. Toothy did the same.

They stayed still and silent for at least five minutes before they saw the jeep rolling along at a slow pace.

Splendid pulled Toothy closer suddenly and withdrew from the opening that could easily get them spotted, pulling Toothy along with him to make sure Toothy wasn't caught either. They listened carefully and stayed perfectly silent as the jeep rolled past them. Then they heard the sound of footsteps and bushes rustling.

Splendid muttered something under his breath and quickly looked out to see how much time they'd have to get away.

About three bushes away were two felines, one cheetah and the other a lynx, rustling and looking through the bushes.

Splendid still had a firm grip on Toothy's wrist-if he still had his powers, he probably would have accidentally snapped the poor beaver's wrist. He quickly pulled Toothy to the other side of the shrubbery, practically dragging the younger Tree Friend with him, and peeked out. Felines on that side too.

_Not good... _he thought to himself. "We're going to have to make a break for it and hope for the best," he said quietly so only Toothy could here.

Toothy gulped slightly and glanced at Splendid. Them against cheetahs? It was just foolish!

Before Toothy could protest, Splendid had pulled him out of the bush and they were running like all hell was on their tails... and just maybe it was.

The two Tree Friends got very lucky. The cheetah spotted them, yes, but he started running and before he could shout out to the guys in the van, he ran into the lynx and they both fell over. With the felines trying to get their limbs untangled and shouting at each other about how much of a klutz the other was, Splendid and Toothy made it too a large oak tree, which Splendid immediately began climbing. He reached back down and grabbed Toothy's wrist and told him to hold on, which Toothy did quite happily.

Splendid climbed up the tree and they hid up in the leaves. Splendid had to literally push Toothy off of him to get him to let go, but Toothy didn't seem offended by it. He just giggled and looked down at the felines.

Splendid rolled his eyes. Toothy was back to his fanboy ways, but for some reason it didn't disturb Splendid like it used to-which was the reason he had tended to ignore the purple beaver. He had noted as well Toothy's obsession with him, and it kind of creeped him out... or used to, anyway.

_Used to? What am I thinking? Surely it still creeps me out... _Splendid thought to himself, confused. But no, it didn't creep him out and Splendid was oblivious to the reason why.

**--Happy Tree Town--**

"They'll turn up sooner or later, I'm sure," Sniffles stated as he sat down on Giggles' pink sofa. "Two people don't just disappear for no reason, you know."

"I still say they were captured," Petunia said, crossing her arms.

Sniffles laughed at that. "Splendid? Captured? Impossible. And if Toothy were captured, he'd talk their ears off."

"Well, I still say-"

"Petunia, listen, we understand you're worried, but it doesn't mean they were captured," Cuddles assured her. Petunia just sighed.

All of a sudden, Mime burst into the room with a frantic look on his face.

The others looked at him curiously as he tried to mime something out. "Cats? We only have one cat in this town, and she's visiting her father right now," Cuddles said.

Then, all of a sudden, an arrow was shot right through Mime's head and he died immediately. Petunia screamed and Flippy just stared fearfully at the felines that stood behind Mime's corpse.

The two cheetahs were grinning. "Looks like Sis was wrong, not a ghost town after all."

"Yes, Bro. She was _very _wrong," the older feline chuckled quietly.

"What are you doing here?" Flippy questioned, standing up.

"Well, hun, if ya gotta know," the older, female feline started, "This is a hostile takeover!"

**--Splendid and Toothy--**

They stayed in the tree all night-better safe than sorry. They could not hear the angry felines or the jeep anymore, but they were very cautious of traps. Splendid refused to let himself fall asleep, but he was used to not sleeping. Toothy, on the other hand, was out like a light about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, after the sun had set. Splendid only noticed after Toothy almost fell out of the tree.

Splendid leaned against the tree, sitting balanced on the branch. That was one good thing about being a squirrel; he had great balance. Toothy, on the other hand, was a beaver and therefore used to being on the ground, so Splendid had pulled the younger Tree Friend into his lap and hugged him. Only to keep Toothy from falling, of course.

At least, that's what he told himself.

**--Happy Tree Town--**

The two cheetahs lashed out and clawed the eyes out of Cuddles and Mime. Flippy had started flipping out, but all of a sudden, Auntie had tackled him and lifted her right paw with her claws extended.

"Prepare to die, green bear," she said with an evil little grin.

"Auntie, bro, what are you doing?"

Bro looked over at the door. "Sis! You're supposed to be with Cuz at HQ."

"I'm sorry, but I bring bad news. It seems as though our purple captive has escaped with the assistance of our blue captive. We have scanned the whole area in the forest in the direction leading to here and have only seen them once, and they had turned the wrong way, so you haven't a need to worry about them coming here."

Bro and Auntie grinned, then turned back to the Tree Friends.

"And you know we cannot slaughter the townsfolk unless we have a perfectly good reason. Leave them alone. We've done enough to their friends to scar even them for many years." She walked over to Bro and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Just go back to the tree."

Bro sighed and signaled for Auntie to come along. She let go of Flippy and followed with a mutter.

Sis watched them leave before turning to the Tree Friends.

"Your friends will be here in only a matter of days," she spoke quietly. "Your blue friend with the mask- he is the superhero of the town, yes?" Cuddles nodded, watching her with his now bloody eye sockets. "When he exited the Tree Forest, he lost his powers. He couldn't escape, and he definitely couldn't help the purple one escape."

"Then how...?" Giggles began, but then it dawned on her.

"I see you have made your conclusion. Yes, I did help them escape. They were only innocent bystanders who did not deserve to be taken to Fighting Feline headquarters to be tortured."

She paused and looked curiously at them.

"The two of them seem very close. Are they good friends?"

"Umm, well... not exactly," Petunia started. "You see, Toothy-he's the purple one- is Splendid's biggest fan and, well, we all came to the conclusion that he's kind of, well, how to put this? Gay, I believe is the right word, and he might have a small... 'crush' on him... If that's what you mean, anyway."

"Well, from what I saw, it was the blue one-Splendid, you say?- who was hugging the purple one-Toothy?- and it seemed like _he _was the one with the crush."

"Wha-," Cuddles started, only to be interrupted by Bro's voice coming from somewhere far away.

"Sis! Come on, we aren't gonna wait all day!"

Sis looked out the door, then at Flippy. "I'm sorry about this, I'll make sure they don't come near this house again... and I advise that for the next few days, don't leave this house." She was silent for a few moments before saying, "And... don't tell your two friends I was here. They aren't to know."

With that, she turned around and was gone.

**--To Be Continued--**

A/N: Yes, I know it was short, but I've been incredibly busy and slightly sick recently. It's late, I know, but I tried my best.

And yes, it doe seem our favorite blue hero is starting to realize something he has never noticed before... lol


	5. I can't think of a title

A/N: MWAHAHA! YES, MINUIT THE CAT HAS RETURNED FROM A LOOOONG VACATION TO CONTINUE WITH THIS STORY! ... Yea. Sorry about the delay, my wonderful, lovely watchers. lol. You all earn a cyber-cookie for your fantastic patience!

I ONLY OWN THE PLOT AND THE FIGHTING FELINES DANGIT. HTF is NOT mine no matter how much wishing I do!

Note: I had to go back through this story to remember what happened. I'm incredibly sorry, my lovely readers...! *shot*

**HTF HTF HTF HTF HTF**

Splendid waited until Toothy had awoken from his sleep before letting go of him. He carefully pushed Toothy off of him, but kept tight enough hold that the still half-asleep beaver didn't fall out of the tree.

Toothy rubbed his eyes, then remembered where they were. He yawned tiredly, then looked curiously at Splendid.

"What are we gonna do now? How do we go forward if they're ahead of us?"

Splendid looked at him. "If they're ahead of us, that's good. It's less likely we'll be caught by them. The biggest problem would be entering the town."

"Oh," was Toothy's simple reply. Splendid found himself staring at the burn-mark on Toothy's cheek. "What? Is something wrong?" Toothy asked, confused. Splendid shook his head, glancing to the side.

_What's happening to me? _he thought silently to himself. He glanced back at the beaver, who was watching a caterpillar crawl by. _Why do I find myself watching him every time my mind goes blank?_ Splendid suddenly had a thought, but he quickly pushed it away. _No way, it's nothing like that._

"So... when are we going to continue on?"

Splendid was pulled out of his thoughts by Toothy's question. He looked back at Toothy, then said, "Now. But we'll have to be careful; there could be traps anywhere, and I don't feel like dying today."

Toothy nodded slightly in understanding. Splendid grabbed his wrist and started climbing down the tree. Toothy had immediately begun clinging to Splendid when he started climbing down. Toothy particularly didn't want to fall from so high in the tree.

When they reached the ground, Toothy quickly let go of Splendid, suddenly embarrassed. He also didn't want to annoy Splendid, especially since he seemed to be thinking about something.

Splendid had grabbed a stick to check for traps, but as he watched the stick he seemed to be deep in thought.

Toothy wanted to know what he was thinking, but didn't say anything as they walked through the forest.

**-Happy Tree Town-**

Giggles came into the living room, carrying a pitcher of tea. Mime had died in the earlier attack but he was back by then. The felines had literally dragged him to the house and tossed him in the door.

They all felt like prisoners.

"I can't wait for Splendid to get here, I'm sure he'll save us all," Giggles stated, sitting on the couch and hugging Cuddles.

"Just be careful not to drop anything for now," Petunia stated, glancing over at Flippy, who was sitting over with Flaky. "We don't want him flipping out..."

The others nodded in agreement.

"I hope Splendid and Toothy are alright," Cuddles said, glancing out the window. The felines had set guards up at the door and every window. "When do you think the misfortune of the town will affect them?"

"Soon, I hope," Sniffles said. "The first time I came to this town, I died after five minutes of being here. I don't see how they've been here for nearly a whole week and none have died yet..."

"That we know of, anyway," Giggles sighed. She looked over at Mole, who they had tied to a chair to keep him from breaking something. "What are we going to do if Splendid doesn't come?"

"Splendid WILL comes," Cuddles stated, trying to keep everyone's hopes up. He glanced over at Nutty, who they had knocked out to keep him quiet and from breaking something with his hyper-activeness. "He has to... he's our only chance."

**-Splendid & Toothy-**

Toothy began trailing behind the blue hero, but he didn't seem to notice. He was too deep in his own thoughts. Toothy glanced around, then heard a russling in the bushes. He glanced to the side and saw one of the fighting felines, a leopard. The leopard was watching him, grinning a devilish grin. Toothy noticed the gun in his hand and let out a small shriek, then ran to Splendid, who had been knocked out of his thoughts yet again, but this time by Toothy's shriek.

Splendid looked behind and saw the leopard dashing towards them. He quickly grabbed Toothy's wrist and began running, pulling the beaver along with him.

Toothy was terrified. He was even more so when he heard a gunshot. He wasn't very surprised when he felt a searing pain. What he _was_ surprised about, however, was that the pain was in his leg and not his back or head.

Toothy let out a pained squeak and he stumbled, then fell, pulling Splendid down with him. Splendid looked at Toothy, about to tell him to watch where he stepped next time, but stopped himself before saying it upon seeing Toothy's shot leg. He growled something under his breath, then looked at the leopard, who stopped in front of them.

"Finally, I caught you two brats. You caused us a lot of problems, but now, finally, I caught you!" the feline started laughing cruelly. "And there's no getting away now that the purple one is hurt." He grinned sadistically. "Now the question is, who do I kill first? Hmm, I know! I'll start with my least favorite color, purple. Such a fag color, it disgusts me," he stated, glaring down at Toothy.

Splendid suddenly felt angrier than before. Something about him saying such a thing to Toothy didn't go well with Splendid... that and his sudden protectiveness of him.

Splendid let go of Toothy's wrist finally and jumped at the bigger feline, who was very surprised. Toothy watched as Splendid quite easily pulled the gun out of the leopard's hand.

"Such big words for someone so weak," Splendid hissed in the leopard's ear. "You made a _big _mistake when you shot my friend." Splendid knew he couldn't kill the leopard, not on purpose. He knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it, no matter how bad the lopard was. He jumped down and went over to Toothy, all the while letting the bullets drop out of the gun before throwing it aside.

He quite suddenly picked the injured beaver up, then glared at the leopard, who was quite terrified now. He hadn't expected Splendid could disarm him so easily. Then Splendid was gone through the trees.

* * *

Not long afterward, Splendid had to put him down because he wanted to climb a tree to rest. He told Toothy to put his weight on his good leg, to lean against the tree if he had to, and that's what Toothy did. Splendid turned around told him to get on his back and to hold on like before. Toothy obeyed, knowing Splendid knew more about what was going on than he himself did.

When they reached a branch that was high enough and blocked on all sides by leaves-in fact, it had almost escaped his sights- he told Toothy to get on the branch. He got on after Toothy, who was clinging to the branch to keep his balance. Splendid suddenly pulled him closer to him.

"Stay still," he commanded, and Toothy obeyed. He watched as Splendid reached back and untied his mask. Toothy was confused, but he didn't ask. Then Splendid suddenly started wrapping Toothy's leg with his mask, and Toothy understood why. "When we get back to Happy Tree Town, we can actually do something about the bullet," Splendid told him.

Toothy nodded slightly in understanding. It felt odd to see Splendid without his mask, but Toothy didn't say anything about it.

_I wonder why he cares so much... well... that's obvious, it's his __**job**__ to care... _Toothy suddenly thought to himself. _Though isn't he afraid at all that I'll be able to recognize him later when he's in disguise?_

Splendid was having similar thoughts as the younger tree friend was, only slightly different.

_I don't understand why I feel so... protective over him. Before I knew it was just instinct- I'm a superhero after all... but it can't be simple instinct anymore. I wouldn't have gotten so angry at that leopard if it was simple instinct... _Splendid suddenly blinked as a thought crosses his mind. _Surely, I can't... I don't..._

_Surely I don't have a __**crush **__on him?_

**-Happy Tree Town-**

"Commander, the leopard reports that he saw them. He was even kind enough to tell us that the squirrel is quite defensive of the beaver. What shall we do? Shall we send more troops out to find them?"

"No. In fact, call the troops back. They're just a beaver and a squirrel, they cannot do anything to us."

"If that is how you want it commander, I'll get on it right away."

"Oh, and Lynx... if they get to the town, tell me. I want to... observe them."

"As you wish."

**-TO BE CONTINUED-**

Well it seems Splendid's finally realized the obvious. Hehheh. So, any ideas as to what's gonna happen? Oh, by the way, the whole getting-shot thing came to me in a dream.

SO WHO'S GLAD I FINALLY FRIKKIN RETURNED?

Also, sorry it's not very long. XP I wanted to get it up so yeah.


End file.
